


The Grace of a Demon

by MotherofBirds



Series: The Guardians [1]
Category: Angels - Fandom, Demons - Fandom, Novel - Fandom, The Guardian Series
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-12
Updated: 2015-08-12
Packaged: 2018-04-14 08:40:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4558032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MotherofBirds/pseuds/MotherofBirds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Earth is a world filled with life, air, and sunshine. But there is darkness too, lurking in the depths of nightmares comes true. Two sister worlds revolve around Earth; they are home to my people and the others we rarely speak of. These realms keep Earth balanced between good and evil. One world is filled with pure energies, you might call them Angels; however, I know them as the People of Light. They are beings beyond beauty. They glow with this amazing light that emits from their very soul. They are always dressed in the finest silk and purest fabrics. All the denizens are kind and caring to each other; they never lie or deceive. They are the quintessence of life and everything that is virtuous. The other world is filled with dark spirits. They allocate death and evil into the universe. On Earth we call these spirits Demons. They call themselves Dark Dwellers. Their limbs are contorted at odd angles, their skin as black as pitch and covered in calluses and sores. Their eyes glow this disgusting blood red. These monsters are created solely to bring chaos, corruption, and anguish into our world. These sister worlds’ true names are Bonum and Malum. They share no likeness and have two different reasons for existing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Grace of a Demon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little about Sasha's college life. She must face her fears and overcome the demands of Professor Bernth. She also befriends the most unlikely of people.

   It was happening again.

   The fire burned around her in a blazing heat. The agonized screams came from all around her, filling her ears with unwanted noise until she thought her head would explode. A man-like silhouette ran past her, flames tracing his outline. She couldn’t see his face, but she heard his shrieks of pain.

   “NO!” a woman’s voice screamed, as a burning house caved in, trapping everyone that was inside. “NO!”

   The girl amongst the chaos ran in search of water to put out the fire that threatened to destroy and burn everything to a crisp. Including her. She ran, frantically, searching all over the small burning town. The streets were already strewn with corpses coated in a dried thick crust, the color a harsh dark brown. Tears streamed down her face, evaporating from the heat of the fires around her, as she ran pass the bodies.

    _I have to find water!_  She yelled internally, looking hysterically around her trying to find a grip on the reality of what was happening to these poor people. The smoke swelled in plumes and began to choke her. She coughed trying to clear her lungs but she couldn’t breathe. The worst thing was the smell. It truly smelled like death, making her dry heave as she inhaled the black, billowing smoke. It wrapped itself around her body until it consumed her completely. The smoke was so thick she couldn’t see anything. She began losing her balance; the world was turning upside down. It was all going black. She was trapped in this Hell. Evil laughter sounded all around her.

   “Sasha! Sasha! _HEY_!” She heard someone shouting. But she couldn’t see, she dropped to her hands and knees, and then onto her side, choking on the smoke. _Everyone is dead and there is nothing I can do…._ “Sasha! Sasha!”

   And suddenly there was water and the fire was gone.

 

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

 

   “Huh? What happened?” I asked stood up rubbing my eyes and noticing that my hair and blouse was completely soaked. “Why am I covered in water?”

   “Sasha, for the sixth time, I’ve been trying to wake you for the past five minutes! You need to stop falling asleep in my class! If you do it again, you will not be allowed back into this lecture. Is that understood?” the professor bellowed at me.

   Oh, it was just a dream… No ones burning.

   I looked around nervously; everyone was staring at me and a few were giggling. “What are you looking at?” I grumbled. The class turned their eyes away silently. I turned my attention back to the professor, “I’m really sorry Professor Bernth, it wont happen again I promise…”

   I can’t believe I was forced to take this stupid lecture, and it was so boring.  It’s all my fault for not signing up for classes sooner so I could get the good teachers. Instead of sitting back down I made my way passed other students sitting next to me and towards the door to the classroom. Professor Bernth stopped in the middle of his lecture and glared at me.

   “And where do you think you are going, Ms. Curator? Must you keep rudely interrupting my class?” He said, the words seething like poison from his mouth.

 I turned to face him and proclaimed, “I am an adult, professor, I think I can use the bathroom without your permission. And since you rudely poured water all over me, I’d like to go dry off as well,” I retorted back. I heard hushed giggles throughout the class and smirked in approval.

   Professor Bernth grumbled to himself, pondering over if he should let me go or not. “Very well, but make it fast!” he hollered at me as he rubbed his temples and then mumbled under his breath, “God, I hate my job...”

   I looked back toward where I had been seated and spotted my best friend, Kristen, who sat in the seat right next to me. She rolled her eyes and shook her head at me with that insincere disapproval and I grinned. I opened the classroom door and stepped out into the hall. I passed room after room, hearing teacher's lecture or a video playing, as I made my way to the girl’s bathroom on the other side of the school.

   It wasn’t a very big of school; most college campuses were a lot bigger from what I heard. It was u-shaped if you looked at it from an eagle’s point of view. There is a Gym for the students and faculty, a Library, a Cafeteria, Courtyard, and an Administration/Admissions building around the u-shaped main one. Colorado Mountain College wasn’t the greatest of schools either. There were numerous campuses located throughout Colorado. The campus I’m at is located in Glenwood Springs. We have a great view of the Grand Mesa National Forest. The only fun part of attending this school is that we have occasional visitors from the forest make their way into the courtyard. It’s a riot to watch all the girls squeal at raccoons and possums.

   I passed the teachers’ lounge, opened the door to the girl’s bathroom, and stepped inside letting the heavy door shut behind me. I strode straight to the mirror and sink to look myself over. I sighed at the girl with the angry hazel eyes staring back at me. I loathed Professor Bernth; he was one of the cruelest teachers I have ever had. The only part that was actually decent about him was that he rarely gave us assignments outside of lectures because he hated grading papers.

   “Stupid, lazy, no good, son-of-a-bitch,” I cursed under my breath as I started straightening out the wet mess I called my hair by running my fingers through it. It was mid-length and light brown in color. I grabbed a few paper towels and tried to pat dry most of it.

   Someone walked in as I was patting my hair with paper towels. I caught a glimpse of the girl through the mirror. Great, it was Rebecca. I don’t know why, but it seems like she has it out for everyone at this school. I’ve known her since elementary school, and she was always picked on. And now she has this grand scheme to make everyone else's life miserable. The only reason she got picked on is because she’s the smartest girl in the whole state. She’s currently studying to become a doctor, but she’s way ahead of any normal eighteen year old should be. I don’t think she has any friends, I never see her with anyone.

She has a lot of natural beauty, but looked more like an ugly duckling growing up. Her hair is black, long, and really frizzy. Almost like she never styles or brushes it. She’s kind of tall too, probably around 5’8 or 5’9, but really skinny. Her eyes are brown and she wears big clunky glasses that make her eyes look huge behind them.

She must have seen me staring at her because she snorted and said, “You should quit making a mess of yourself, one of these days you won’t be able to clean that,” she pointed to all of me, “up.”

   She walked into one of the stalls and I left before I could say or do something I’d regret later. She hates me the most because I’m dating a guy named Dustin, who she has a thing for. She’s mad that he chose me over her. I can see why he did though, she was really mean to everyone and tried too hard at everything. I walked back toward the classroom, which was in the upstairs 200 building hallway, and then made my way to room 216B the last door on the left. As I turned the corner down the hallway, I bumped into someone carrying a large stack of papers.

   “Oof!” I fell to the floor in a heap, papers flying everywhere. “Oh I’m so sorry!”

   “Haha, that’s okay,” said a familiar voice.

   “Oh, Dustin, I didn’t recognize you behind all these papers,” I said with a giggle. I began picking the papers up and handing them to him.

   Dustin looked at me with his kind brown eyes and blinked. “You are such a klutz, Sasha,” he said, kiddingly. “I swear you are accident prone, you should try to be more careful. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”  

   He set down all the papers and touched my face then moved a strand of hair back behind my ear. He leaned in and kissed my forehead; his lips were warm against my skin. My heart fluttered like a hummingbird’s wings, being with him is probably the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. We’ve known each other since we were very little but grew apart when he moved away during middle school. He used to always joked he would marry me someday, but part of me wishes he had really meant it. We only just started dating last year when I was working at a Diner and he was in town again looking at different colleges to apply for. I didn’t recognize him at first but ever since then it was almost like he had never left. And after a couple of months he finally got up the courage to take it a step beyond friendship. Now, I feel like the luckiest girl alive.

   Dustin pulled away and sighed quietly; he looked into my eyes. “I’m one lucky guy.”

   “I was just thinking the same thing. Well, lucky girl in this case. And also, that you could use a haircut.” I smiled and ruffled his shaggy brown hair.

   He laughed, “Yeah I really do need one. I’ll probably go after I’m done here,” He pulled on a long lock of his hair. “I should get all these papers back to the admissions office pronto, otherwise I might get into all kinds of trouble,” he said sarcastically. "But you should meet me at the admissions building once you get out of class. At 1pm, right?"

  I nodded and agreed and told him to get his butt moving before he got into his imaginary trouble.

   Dustin and I stood up, embraced each other, careful not to knock the papers over again, and made our way in different directions. As I stepped into lecture hall 216B, Professor Bernth glared down at me. I trudged back up to my seat and stared out the window. I wished I could be anywhere but here right now. I knew skipping class was wrong, especially because I’m already so behind. Sometimes it just felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere at this place. Studying to be an English Major was really tiresome. It’s not exactly what I want to do with the rest of my life. Kristen was the main reason I chose this degree. I have no idea what I’m going to do after I graduate. It’s the dumbest thing, thinking about your future, because no one knows anything about it. You have all these questions, but don’t know what to ask. As I thought about all this junk rushing through my head I heard evil laughter near me; just like from the dream that I had during class.

   I looked around, thinking someone was playing a sick joke on me, but saw everyone silently working on an assignment Professor Bernth gave them. I heard it again and turned to my left and whispered to Kristen, “Do you hear that?”

   “Hear what?” she asked me confused.

   Professor Bernth shushed me before I could respond.

   I sat quietly and then I heard it again. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong.

   My nightmare was the only clue.

 

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

 

    After Professor Bernth released us for the day, I waved goodbye to Kristen (she stayed behind to talk to some of the classmates) and I rushed my way towards the admissions building. As I turned the corned from hallway 200 into the atrium, I yet again bumped into someone carrying a pretty heavy looking load of textbooks. One of them landed on my foot!

   "OW! Goddamn that is painful!" I yelled and hopped around holding my food.

   "Oh shit, are you okay?"

   "Nope, my foot is throbbing. Oh man this is going to leave an awful bruise," I replied not even paying attention to who I was talking to.

   "You should really watch where you are going in the future. I'm really sorry my book dropped on your foot, but it was kind of your fault for bumping into me in the first place."

   I finally looked up to see a very depressed-looking, pale-skinned, what I think is a girl frowning at me. She had this crazy haircut that was shaved on the sides and back of her head and long on top, but it wasn't a mohawk or anything. I also noticed she had a ton of piercings; all up and down her ears and on her nose and eyebrow. She was also wearing all black; black leather jacket, black shirt, black jeans, and black combat boots. I started nervously, "I'm sorry... Here let me help you. I feel awful now." I started to help her pick up the books that were still on the floor.

   "Thanks, you really don't have to," She scrambled to pick them up and take the ones I had gotten.

   "No please, where are you going with these? Let me help, it's the least I can do," I prompted.

   She sighed heavily, "Fine. I have to take these to some students down this hallway. They never came to pick them up, so the library sent me off as their little errand runner." She sighed again.

   "Well, okay, let's go then!" I started walking down the hall. "I'm Sasha, by the way. And I'm really sorry again."

   "It's okay. My name's Cynthia but I prefer to be called Crow," She explained.

   "Why 'Crow'?" I prodded, "I-If that's not asking to much."

   "I have a thing for birds, and crows are my favorite species.  My dad used to have a sanctuary for them. They're extremely intelligent and I love their black plumage. As a nickname it suits me because I wear all black too. Kind of like how it suits me better to be thought of as a guy instead of a girl," She kind of whispered the last part.

   "Oh," I didn't really know what to say so I asked, "Wait does that mean you use he/him pronouns? Like you're transgender? Oh my God, sorry this whole time I've been thinking 'she' like you're a girl because, well, you have boobs!"

   He laughed out loud, "Yeah, I didn't wear my binder today. I'm not transgender per say, just identify more as male. I don't want to take any hormones or get any surgery done, but I just prefer to be thought of as a guy. I don't know. It just makes me feel better I guess." He stopped in front of a door, the room sign reading 218A. "Here we are."

   I shifted the books so I could have a free hand to open the door for Crow. I walked in after him as he started to explain to the professor that he had books to give to some students. The professor obliged but told Crow to be quick because she was in the middle of an important lecture. 

   "Do you mind holding these for just a second?" Crow turned to me and ask quietly.

   "Sure I don't mind."

   He set his load of books on top of mine and my arm muscles began to ache within seconds.  _Oh my god how did he carry these all the way up here?_

   Crow pulled a crumpled pieced of paper from his leather jacket and began reading off names from it. One by one the students came down and took a book from the stack I was holding. It was such a relief when the last student took the last book. I stretched my arms a little to get the soreness out. Crow thanked the professor for her time and we both left the lecture hall.

   "Thanks for helping me, it actually made it a lot easier," Crow said almost nonchalantly.

   "Hey, no problem. I'm glad I could help and like I said it's the least I could do," I felt better after saying that out loud, like all the tension had melted from earlier. We walked all the way to the library chatting about college stuff. I learned Crow was studying to be a traditional artist and worked at the Library part time. Once we were in front of the doors it seemed like Crow didn't want me to come inside.

   We kind of just stood there in silence for a few second before I had started to say, "So, I need to go-" at the same time that Crow was saying, "Thanks for help-"

   We both laughed a little, "You go first," I said.

   "I just wanted to thank you again for helping me. It was really nice talking to you, and just that I have to get back to work."

   "Yeah, I understand. And you are totally welcome. I'm kind of glad I bumped into after all. And I need to go to the admissions office because I'm meeting my boyfriend there." I pulled out my phone to check if I had missed any messages. "Here let me get your number, and maybe we could hang out sometime outside of school?"

   "Okay, sure," we proceeded to exchange each other's phone numbers. Once that was done I waved goodbye and started to walk to the admissions building. I spotted Dustin standing outside, looking at his phone. Mine still being in my hand from taking Crow's number, I felt it buzz. I looked down to see the text,

**Dustin** (1:56pm):

            Where r u?

****

_Oops. I was an hour late!_  I shook my head and kept walking towards Dustin, he looked up and spotted me. I waved and he smiled. I closed the distance between us and he put his arm around my shoulders. 

   "Hey there, cutie," we walked together toward the parking lot. 

   "Hey," I replied smiling. "Sorry I'm late."

   "That's okay, what held you up?"

   We got to his car and he opened the passenger door for me. It was an old rugged pickup truck from the 2000s. It still had a key to turn the engine on. I hopped up into the cabin and sat down, "I made a friend."

   "Oh?" He shut my door and walked around to the drivers sit and got in. "Who?"

   "His name is Crow."

   "It's a guy? Crow...Like the bird?"

   "Yeah. Don't get all jealous on me though, he has a girlfriend. He was also born a female."

   "Oh," He fell silent for a while. He backed out of his parking spot and drove out of the campus. I turned on the radio and some old classic rock song came on.

   "Everything is vintage today," I mumbled. "So, what are your plans today?" I asked Dustin.

   "Well I figured we could go get my hair cut and then maybe get a bite to eat."

   We turned and headed toward the barber shop. I looked over at Dustin. He always looked so calm and composed. I loved being around him because he made me feel so at ease. 


End file.
